One of our first appointments at Activision included a progress update on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, currently in development at Neversoft Entertainment.

In other words, we watched as two presenters walked us through some of the innovations that are going to be incorporated in the game – well, fair enough, they did let us try the game a couple of times. The game was recently showcased at the E3, but I believe this is the first time the creators of the game were allowed to talk about certain improvements that come with the sequel.

Unlike the game's E3 demonstration, this time they focused a lot on additional multiplayer features, which should be enough to interest fans and new players alike. Now, it's one thing having to play the guitar by yourself, but when you face actual players in intense face-off matches, the game becomes a real music competition. Some of the members of the press, including myself, were able to give it a shot. We took part in Guitar Battles, which, amongst other features includes the Face-off mode from the previous game. The real trick is to beat the other player and get a better score in the process. Of course, this won't be easy, particularly when difficult guitar solos come up.

This game feels a lot different than EA's Rockband. While Guitar Hero III seems to have more interesting multiplayer modes and an impressive new line of upgraded guitar-controllers that are about to hit the market (to be released after the launch of the game), Rockband simply seems a bit more accessible to the casual gamer. The upgraded guitars, as shown by Activision, featured a choice of cool new additions that should help players make the most out of their musical performance. Okay, it's not much, but some useful new buttons were added and a few practical enhancements were made in the overall design. For instance, you can take out the guitar neck for easy carrying, which is nice. Albeit, I felt compelled to ask how much this new guitar-controller is gonna cost and when they plan to release it. Sadly, Activision wasn't able to give a specific answer on that, although they did mention the price might be in the same ball park as the price-tag of other models. In any case, when Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock comes out, it's likely you'll be able to get a guitar controller bundled with the game for around 70 bucks… maybe. Don't take my word for it.

Unsurprisingly, Activision chose a different song list for displaying the game here at Leipzig for European viewers. So, as revealed by the publisher, we've learned about the following songs: Avalancha: Heroes Del Silencio, Closer: Lacuna Coil, Hier Kommt Alex: Die Toten Hose, Minus Celsius: Backyard Babies and Take This Life: In Flames.

Other tracks were also mentioned, most of which you may have heard about before: Paint It Black: The Rolling Stones, Cherub Rock: Smashing Pumpkins, Sabotage: Beastie Boys, The Metal: Tenacious D, My Name is Jonas: Weezer, Knights of Cydonia: Muse, Rock And Roll All Nite: Kiss, School's Out: Alice Cooper, Slow Ride: Fog Hat, Cult of Personality: Living Colour, Barracuda: Heart, Evenflow: Pearl Jam and Lay Down: Priestess.

At the end of the presentation, I noticed Activision was mostly talking about multiplayer improvements, so are there any interesting new challenges in the single-player? If you prefer it, you can always try your guitar skills against veterans such as Slash and find out how far you can go...

-- Ure 'Vader' Paul